What an unbelievably strong album. This - to me - is the natural follow up to Contagion. A true return to form. Nothing against Pepper's Ghost and Seventh Degree, but listening to this album a couple of times made me realise that
this is the Arena that I grew so fond of. A few initial highlights:
- The concept. What an intriguing story.
- The return of guitarsolo's.
-
How Did It Come to This?-
The Unquiet Sky-
What happened before. Hell hath no fury!

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Returning The Curse. Especially the instrumental bit that starts at 2:05.
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Unexpected Dawn. Melodic, souring. Strong vocal delivery by Paul.
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Traveller Beware. A mini-epic. Stunning conclusion to the album.
It's almost an insult that they're playing only four Unquiet Sky-songs live. I fully understand that they're celebrating 20 years or Arena, but maybe the guys have to think about doing a tour in support of this album later in the year, schedules permitting of course, like they did with Contagion. Play a large chunk of The Unquiet Sky as a first set, then have a small break, and then come back and play a second set consisting of 'classics'. Sounds like a plan, right?

Congratulations Clive and the rest of the band on this remarkable piece of work.
By the way, Erik, how about writing a 'Follow the Signs'-article about Unquiet Sky, just for old times sake?

Tom